go away winter

This past week I was  assisting in Penland’s letterpress studio for the Instructor Retreat. It was an amazing event at which about 100 instructors came to work and experiment in new mediums. Above is a shot of Matthew Hebert‘s Arduino demo. It blew my mind.

This past session at Penland I took my first black and white photography class. I really enjoyed the whole process of photography, but most of all I loved printing. Hanging out in the dark room is such a weird time warp, the hours seem to roll past.

Here are  a few process shots of the tent project I have been working on in the iron studio. Planning this project was a completely new experience and when it all came together at the end I could hardly believe that I measured everything correctly. Now I have a few weeks off to focus on drawing. After that is is on to the photo studio.

I thought I was going to be so entranced with enameling that I wouldn’t get around to making books. Turns out I like both enameling and bookbinding pretty well. The final photo here is of just about everything I made in class. The lovely Amy Tavern sat down with me on Friday to talk a little about what I made and how the work I did in the spring has carried over into the Summer.  I feel incredibly lucky to have had such wonderful teachers this session and to have friends like Amy around to help me see things more clearly.

This week I was introduced to enamel in my class with Elizabeth Turrell and Eileen Wallace. Above are five pictures of my bench, one from each day of class so far. Working with enamel and metal has been an exciting departure for me. Stepping away from prints which really aren’t supposed to be touched and exploring stoned enamel which seem to beg to be touched.

I got a real nice break between Spring and Summer classes at Penland. My adventures took me up to DC, down to Wilmington, and for a walk to Deer Park lake. After such a mind blowing Spring the negative space of the break felt much needed and welcome.  Summer is upon us now and my first night of class is tonight. This is the class description: Elizabeth Turrell & Eileen Wallace – Enameling for Books & More- Students will learn enameling and bookbinding techniques to create books whose covers are partially or completely made of enameled panels or components. We will use both wet process and/or jewelry enamel on thin steel and copper. Enamel techniques include sgraffito (drawing), stenciling, simple relief printing, and decals. Tactile surfaces—including text or imagery—can be produced by etching or incising prior to enameling. We will then create books that fully integrate the enameled elements into innovative and exciting structures.